After 6 years of work, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) will be ending on June 3, 2015. By way of marking its closing, four full days of events have been planned. This letter is to highlight some of those events and to encourage you and your congregation to participate in the events, either by attending them in Ottawa if possible or, by developing your own events and celebrating in your own area. This needs to be a Canada-wide celebration.

At the Annual General Meeting of May 2014 there was a difficult discussion about sending money to overseas partners. The issue was not about supporting or not, as we all recognize that there are huge needs in many parts of the world. Indeed, our Conference was extremely generous in responding to the needs of our partners because of Super Typhoon Haiyan last November in the Philippines. The problem in our meeting arose because of the process.

Toronto: The United Church of Canada sent a letter today congratulating Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird on the stance he has taken in support of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Russia.

As of Christmas, more than $1.1 million had been donated to the United Church's Typhoon Haiyan Appeal - a testament to the compassion of faithful United Church members. Of those donations, $585,000 was sent to ACT for programming in the Philippines. United Church partners, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), have each received $60,000. The funds have been used to purchase materials for temporary shelter, food, clean water, medicines, and psychosocial counseling.

It has been over a month since the Super Typhoon hit the central islands of the Philippines, destroying thousands of homes, schools, churches, businesses and killing thousands of people, with so many others left homeless, struggling, lost, afraid and feeling alone. It has been over two weeks since I returned but my Facebook page gets messages everyday - those looking for more help, those sending pictures of relief workers and volunteers continuing tirelessly to repack food and other life necessities, and to travel the miles to bring hope.